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Terrible game. Don't buy it.

Id heard quite a lot about this game before i bought it, and they had done a good job of advertising it in magazines and on bus shelters, however my enthusiasm for this game ran out when i started to play it.

The opening cut scene wasn't actually too bad, the graphics looked a bit like an old western but in colour, it was more of a comic book feel, but it was quirky and different. After the first cut-scene, your character jumps though a glass roof, falls about 50 feet and isn't hurt one bit...which is a little bit unrealistic. That however is not my biggest fault with the game, when you are aiming your weapons normally while running, its very hard to get an aim on your opponent, and a help menu comes up telling you to jump through the air and shoot, and EVERY time you jump in the air on this game, time slows down, and automatically aims at your nearest enemy. Now, for me this kind of defeats the element of a shoot 'em up game, all you do on this game, is run around, jumping in the air, pressing the fire button. Literally that's it. The storyline is horrendous as well, I only played it for about 2 hours and i was bored for 1 and a half of them, its just an all round terrible game, i wouldn't recommend it, but hey, if you think you'll enjoy a horrible game with a rubbish storyline and game play, be my guest and go and buy it.

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It's stylish but flawed.

WET

Action games which carry a lot of flair to them can sometimes be bogged down by a case of style over substance, when the game is too busy showboating to actually create a meaningful game experience. Shooters which get it right carefully balance style with gameplay to create something more meaningful. With WET, you take the role of a gun-for-hire who knows nothing but how to kill. Will style take over your enjoyment of this game, or will you have some great times with this smoking gun?

You play as Rubi Malone, a 'gun-for-hire' voiced by Eliza Dushku (Wrong Turn). At the beginning you are chasing a goon who made a deal go sour which was in favour of your client. After chasing him and, well, burning him to death, you deliver the package to your client, which turns out to be a heart to save a dying father. Fast forward a few years and this man has come to ask for your help, but things go sour from there. After that, this giant revenge quest, in all it's gruesome glory, kinda fades to the background, favouring gameplay over cutscenes.

You'll immediately notice how stylish WET is. It creates the atmosphere of a 70s grindhouse flick by using several techniques. The most obvious is a special film filter which makes the game look dirty and dark, much like 70s grindhouse. This can be turned off though, but the game looks worse for wear when this filter is removed. Turning it off highlights the slightly blocky character models and environments. Unfortunately, what aren't optional are the frequent interruptions from old film advtert clips, which try to create the feeling of the cinema intermission. It does just that, however what this means is that it feels like you're stopping and starting, which is jarring.

WET is also violent, and doesn't seem to hold back at all. Limbs are chopped off as easy as sausages, and even in important cutscenes violence is a key factor. It definately fits in with the 70s grindhouse vibe. WET also has a great soundtrack to fit with this vibe. The heavy Punk influences from these tracks are quite fitting and help pump adrenaline into the game, as do some of the more Mexican-influenced songs. It's all completely original too, which makes it seem like a more whole hearted effort amongst most soundtracks these days.

While WET nails a grindhouse atompshere, we are supposed to be 'playing' this rather than watching it, but thankfully WET isn't too bad of a game either. It's a first person shooter, but rather than going with a robotic 'Gears of War' style cover system and shooting mechanics, WET is like an adrenaline crazy version of older shooters, taking us to a time when there wasn't even cover systems. It's all very nostalgic and provides some old school fun and simplicity, with only four weapons to speak of.

These weapons are the pistol, sub-machine gun, shotgun and...Crossbow? Each weapon is good for different situations-shotguns for close range enemies, crossbows for crowds of enemies and pistols for lone wolves. However, the poor accuracy on the sub-machine and crossbows dampens their effectiveness, meaning you'll probably rely on the pistol and shotgun, especially seeing as the pistol has infinate ammo. Still, each respective weapon packs a punch, with deafening gunshots and brutal kills which are indefinately satisfying. You also have a sword, and if you get close enough, you can perform absolutely brutal kills with this.

WET also has a unique focus on Acrobatics. Not only must you scale walls and other obstacles to make progress, but it is a big part of combat. Outside of combat, some wall running and wall jumps will be needed to move further, as well as pole swinging and huge, death defying jumps. In combat, jumping or peforming an acrobatic move, then shooting, will cause time to slow down for a few seconds and an auto lock to kick in. The amount of stylish kills you can earn from using acrobatics is phenominal, and the amount of times you'll say 'woah' will be large.

Unfortunately, this blessing also happens to be WETs biggest curse. While it's incredibly fun to do this for the first couple of hours, it gets quite repetitive after the fifth or so level. After all, trying to get kills without using slow motion is nigh on impossible, thanks to awful aiming. Not only that, but to earn the most points for upgrading weapons and moves, you have to perform chains of kills in slow motion, meaning the game feels like a one tricky pony repeated across a dozen levels. The only break from this is when Ruby gets blood on her face, and goes into a rage mode, where kills are easier without doing the slow motion acrobatics, but there's only about four of them in the game.

There are also vehicle sections in the game, where you ride on top of cars while shooting any goons who are shooting you. Unfortunately, these levels highlight the poor aiming, and with no slow motion to help you out, these sections can be incredibly frustrating. There is also a level where you are skydiving through the sky, and must shoot goons before avoiding flying debris from a destroyed plane, but again, these highlight the poor aiming outside of the slow motion.

WET's 12 levels will probably take you around 7 hours to complete. After that, you can play the game on 'golden bullets' mode, where you take less damage to die, but enemies die with one shot. There is also a challenge mode which test your acrobatic and shooting skills, and a score mode where you must score the required amount of points on each level. There are four difficulties, and on the easiest, WET is almost a cakewalk, but on the hardest, it becomes quite a frustrating game due to the fact that unless you're in slow motion, you will likely take a lot of damage. If you're into WET's other modes, you could probably get a lot of hours out of it.

Is WET good, bad or ugly?WET nails a stylish amotsphere with a grindhouse film filter, incredible violence and a blood pumping soundtrack. However it isn't quite as polished when it comes to the actual gameplay, which becomes repetitive way before the half way point. It's vicious focus on slow motion gameplay makes the game feel repetitive, and the sections which try to break up the action are worse for wear, thanks to a poor aiming system. If you can look past it's flaws, you'll find an okay action game which has a great sense of style, if not then it will numb your mind and leave you bored.

Controls-6Gameplay-6Graphics-7Sound-8Value-7Overall-6.8

WET was released on September 18th, 2009 for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. It is rated 18+ for strong bloody violence and can be bought for under £10 on most websites and game stores.

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Some nice ideas executed poorly

For some people the gaming landscape is one of only great games. These lucky few are usually gamers that dabble in the hobby picking up a 'Call of Duty' here, a 'Halo' there. In many ways I pity these people as they miss out on so many hidden classics - did they ever see their house from the heights of 'Crackdown', or fall in love in 'Half Life 2'? There are many great games out there that are popular, but not massively popular. However, perhaps these people are right in just playing the gems on the gaming landscape. For those of us who play games a lot you soon get through the cream, straight down the milk and get to the horrible remains of a soggy biscuit that you have to sieve through your teeth. I play lots of games and many of them are not good. Speaking of which, here is a review of 'Wet'

Gameplay

'Wet' is the title of one of the most displeasingly named games in a long time. Couple the dank title with the sexualised female lead and I was a little dubious about the game. Turns out that I need not have been worried about the name as 'Wet' refers to the term 'wet works', used by military personnel when they are undertaking a mission that will probably involve causalities. In this case the protagonist, Rubi, is a mercenary who is wronged early on and sets out to get revenge in the most violent way possible.

The game is a third person shooter that is near identical to the poorly received John Woo game 'Stranglehold'. You move through a series of areas dispatching countless goons with your guns or sword. The unique elements to the game (although they are taken directly from 'Stranglehold') is that Rubi slows down time when leaping or swinging. This gives you the chance to perform acrobatic moves on many enemies at once. For ten minutes or so the mechanic is reasonable fun as you leap from post to post. However, the same gameplay over and over again for 6 hours is not enough.

A more successful feature is the rage mode that Rubi goes into on occasion. This turns the colour scheme into red, white and black like in 'Sin City'. You bomb around at a fast pace slicing up enemies like there is no tomorrow. Although slightly more original than the core gameplay, this rage mode also gets tiresome relatively quickly. I did complete the game from start to finish, but I was never convinced Bethesda truly got to grips with the action. (2 out of 5)

Characters/Story

This is the one area that Bethesda perhaps felt they had got things right by hiring a big name cast including Eliza Dushku, Alan Cumming and Malcolm McDowell. Unfortunately, these big names are forced into poor parts. The story is one of revenge and is very linear; more of an excuse to string set pieces together and swear. As the lead writer was from '24' the linearity seems even more surprising.

The game has a grindhouse feel that does work. Many of the cutscenes are interrupted by cinema adverts from US yesteryear and the game also has a crackly screen filter to make it feel aged. With some great ideas in creating atmosphere it is a real shame that Bethesda is unable to use this in any way that is not juvenile or insipid. (2 out of 5)

Longevity

Modern games are never that long and in cases like 'Wet' this is no bad thing as the gameplay only entertains for the first half anyway. As an experience the game is about moderate length clocking in about 6-8 hours for someone playing it quickly. As always there are some achievements for those people looking to extend lifespan, but as the 'collect X number of this' types of achievements I could not be bothered myself. (3 out of 5)

Online

There is no online mode in 'Wet' and this is increasingly uncommon in modern gaming. However, 'Stranglehold' proved to me that having numerous people all slowing down time doesn't work online. (NA out of 5)

Graphics

In 2009 High definition gaming has come a long way and whilst dodgy character models and flat textures were just acceptable near launch, by now they seem plain lazy. The best graphical elements of the game are nothing to do with the gameplay, but the atmosphere of grindhouse - be it a scratchy look or levels finishing like a camera unspooling. The actual game itself is just functional with bold colouring. However, there is plenty of screen tearing on offer and more than a few glitches. In many ways the game feels like it could have done with six more months work to boost the appearance. (2 out of 5)

Level Design

On the initial level 'Wet' looked like a solidly enough built game. Each level is themed with a location e.g. China Town or London, and Rubi must navigate a linear section to a more open area. These open areas act like arenas where Rubi has to destroy various targets to stop more enemies from spawning. As the game progresses the arenas have more spawn points and harder enemies. By level 3 you realise that the same thing is happening over and over again and that the different environments actually look he same! I didn't know that London and Shanghai were almost identical. A lot more could have been done to spice up the game and about halfway through Bethesda try this by adding far more platforming elements. In a game with poor controls this is a bad thing. (2 out of 5)

Sound

The grindhouse feel of 'Wet' is probably best exemplified through its sound and music. The 70s Wawa guitar sound track and chunky bass means that you do feel like you are listening to a period soundtrack. The sound effects also play into this with some great pops and squeaks that represent the 'poor' quality of the sound. In terms of voice talent Bethesda have proven once more that big names do not always make for great voice acting. Alan Cumming is probably the best actor in the game, but he has little to do; the likes of Eliza Dushku and Malcolm McDowell sound bland and record their work as if they are there for the paycheque only. (3 out of 5)

Summary

With its overly sexualised female protagonist and ultra violence 'Wet' is a game aimed squarely at the hardcore and the juvenile. I will be the first to admit that in terms of game players that is a pretty big group! However, these hardcore gamers also expect quality. Developers Bethesda have come up with a good idea of making a grindhouse game, but executed almost every facet in a poor manner. The actually look and feel works, but the game itself sucks. With repetitive gameplay, bland levels and ropey controls the game is not that much fun. If they spent as much time improving the core game as they did the sound quality they may have made something worth playing. (2 out of 5)

Maker: Bethesda RRP £50Amazon uk £11.99Play.com £17.99

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Fine if you want a game to just sit down to and play with no frustration attatched

Wet : a kill Bill styley 3rd Person shooter which integrates guns, swords and some funky, over the top gymnastic moves. Playing as the ballsy Rubi Malone you go off on a 'mission' running into lots of bad guys who just want to kick your ass!

overall this game is quite nice. The style of the game is a lot like the film Kill Bill (if you have seen this film you will understand as soon as you play this) all gritty and all quite grungy looking. the controls are simple enough and once you get the hang of Rubi sliding about on her knees like a mad woman it's fine. One of the things that lets this game down is the length of game play. Playing it on the hardest difficulty it can be completed in one sitting by a dedicated gamer. Never the less, the short game play is still enjoyable non the less. Id recommend this game if you just want a casual game to sit down and play in stead of something like Call of Duty which can frustrate the hell out of you

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It's a great game while it lasts, but it's not one you'll be reminiscing about in years to come.

Imagine if Quentin Tarantino and John Woo made a game. Wet is, more or less, that game. It's a highly stylised shooter full of completely gratuitous acrobatics, gunfights and good old fashioned violence. It's kind of a mixture of Stranglehold and The Club in that as you're swinging from poles or spinning through the air, time slows down so that you can more easily target and annihilate the opposition one by one. For each successive enemy you kill, and the more variety you include in the kills (headshots, sword slashes, wallruns, floor slides), the more points you get and consequently the more stuff you can get as the game goes on. Every now and then, Rubi, your character, will enter a cel-shaded are where the objective is simply to kill as many enemies as possible before you're overwhelmed, and fleeing to the exit. It's a nice touch, and looks great, but isn't really that different from the rest of the game, apart from the look. I suppose really that's the game's main fault; that there's just not enough variety. Sure you can kill a few different enemies while jumping, sliding or running along a wall, but that's really all there is to it, and although it doesn't quite manage to get old, if the game were much longer, it certainly might.

In a nutshell, this is not a game that will have you scratching your head at any point. It's just a good old fashioned shooter with a Tarantino-esque revenge plot loosely attached. But, it knows what it is, and it does it well. I'd recommend it to anyone looking to put their brain to one side for a few hours to engage in some good old-fashioned violence.

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Ok if you have time to waste

WET (XBOX360)==============Wet is an action packed third person shooter through the eyes of a female samurai wielding badass, named Rubi. Its grind house cinema graphics set it distinctively apart from other shooters of this genre.

It has more gun toting slow motion gun play since the matrix and bullet-time is back! The lead character Rubi is the kind of gal who really doesn't care if she creates some dead bodies as long as there is fat cheque to collect at the end of a mission.Missions include finding brief cases, executions and revenge.

Wet is a straight forward action game split up into twelve chapters which will take around 6-8 hours to complete. After which challenge mode will unlock, where you will play in isolated maps from the single player campaign to obtain the highest score possible. Points are given by killing enemies and jumping through rings of fire in slow motion all of which encourages you to play the game in the most stylish manner possible.

The truth is everything enjoyable in Wet can be experience in ONE play through.

Her physics bending aerobatic moves and fiery weaponry are all designed to make the game look cool. Unfortunately it isn't that satisfying because new combat moves that are unlocked either feel useless or should have been available from the start.

The control system works well, if while jumping or sliding by pulling the right trigger will initiate slow motion. One of your guns then auto-locks onto the closest enemy and the secondary can be aimed by you. You will typically spend the entire game sliding from room to room blasting large number of enemies until they've all been dispatched.

So not surprisingly although the slow motion moves are fun the game becomes a repetitive slog of emptying rooms of enemies. Their are some changes of pace including Gatling guns, a car chase scenario and Rubi blood rage. Rubis' rage turns the screen red and she turns into a killing machine, but still in this mode there are no new moves.

Overall Wet contains some great ideas but it just doesn't apply them properly and so can't be described as a good game. If you don't take it too seriously I guess you won't mind it being rough around the edges.

A bit like the old 'Doom' PC game.

A distinctly Average game.

Greg

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A great buy, lots of character and individual touches mark it out above the rest.

I spotted Wet pretty late on in its preview/review cycle for the magazines, one of those titles that snuck up on me. However as soon as I read the reviews I was interested to say the least, so off I went and picked it up within the first week of release. And at the time of writing this review, I've finished the story mode.

So its a short game, made up of 12 chapters with some Quick Time Event driven cut scenes between some of them to build up the story. To be honest I finshed the game on "Cake Walk" (the games easy mode) and I haven't found all the hidden collectables, thats the next challenge, up the difficulty and find find everything.

The story is a simple one at first glance, but has a few spins and twists to keep you hooked, you play as Rubi Malone, a top notch hired gun who'll do anything (within reason) for the right price. After being double crossed she takes revenge on the person who set her up and off you go to find the poor sod. Of course by the time this revelation comes out into the open your about half way through the game. Most of this story is built up through cut scenes, with the odd key fight done in a cinematic styled QTE driven sequence (the most dissapointing of which in my opinion is the very end of the game, which could have made a great challenge boss fight, turned into a few button presses). This style of game play is both good and bad. Its good because the QTE isn't just thrown in once in the game to say they're in there, they're used frequently enough to feel justified. On the flip side they do prevent some potentially great boss fights from happening. Its almost as though the games designers didn't trust the player with these fights and so took control of the tactics, camera and action away from the player to make sure the fight was paced just how they wrote it.

Which is strange because the rest of the game flows around its action so well. Rubi feels like the lead character from Mirrors Edge in terms of athletic capability but with the shooting skills of Max Payne, particularly with the focus on slow-mo kills. Anytime Rubi is jumping sliding spinning or running on the wall and shooting the game slows down and Rubi (where applicable) uses both guns. One is aimed manually using the analogue stick, the other locks on automatically to the nearest enemy/target. Its a well built system that really allows you to join up long kill combos mixed in with jumping and sliding almost like you were in the Matrix.

The choice of weapons is small but varied, Rubis pistols never run out of ammo and the three other guns are well balanced. Small cannons, shotguns and SMGs all feature and Rubis permenant alternative weapon is her sword which is effective against almost any enemy. All of these are upgradable using "Style Points", gained from stylish kills in the game. Repeating moves lowers the points gained for kills so it pays to be imaginative.

The controls allow you to put Rubi into almost any position for a kill and rarely get mixed up. The face buttons handle the sword, QTEs, and generally interacting with the environment, the camera is smooth and again rarely gets in the way, and the triggers cover the guns and wall running. Its all simple and feels quite natural.

Special stages are introduced called "Rage mode", wher Rubi goes on an uncontrollable killing spree. These are marked by a stark change in graphics from gritty grindhouse style realism to bold reds black and white (white being blood). The aim of these sections is to gain the highest kill combo possible and generally to kill anything that moves. My personal record is 77 so far for one section.

The soundtrack is great, lots of fast heavy rock. I'd like to go out and find some of these bands albums personally, and the music matches the games pace and feel.

Finally the modes available, on first play through only story mode is available, but after a quick blast through the challenges become available, these allow you to replay any level and try and beat your last performance in terms of time and points.

This is a great fun game with plenty to keep you playing, the fast music, crisp visuals and huge set pieces (falling through the debris of an exploded plane towards Earth anyone?) are truely cinematic. However the slight cliche of the storyline and the QTEs removing the chance of some potentially epic boss fights is a bit disappointing.